Dinner Speech 2010

Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening,

This occasion always brings with it a tinge of sadness for me as it brings to an end, well almost anyway, another tremendous season for Harpsden Cricket Club. I suppose this year at least we have the benefit of an Ashes filled winter and whatever you lot say, George and I are feeling pretty confident!

So what has 2010 been like for Harpsden Cricket Club. Of the 44 matches that we have played so far, we have drawn 2, one of those an exciting finish in a time game with Crazies Hill. They were 9 wickets down and Chris Cracknell steaming down the hill, wind behind, in the dark, snorting fire, just failing to get the last wicket and the other against Paddy Burtt’s Benedick Club with the oppo needing two sixes off the last two balls to win, Miles bowling, they get the six off the second last ball but WG was too good for them on the last and we escape with a draw. We have lost 6 games, with most of them being the result of awesome opposing performances from Harpsden players! The Crossbatters beat us at the end of May with Christian Whittaker scoring a brilliant unbeaten 50 for the oppo and Miles’ stumps, as Miles was yet again playing for the opposition, surviving by a coat of varnish as they beat us by one wicket. Ealing and Three Bridges beat a weakened Regatta Saturday Harpsden team, and the only day in the whole season where we haven’t had at least 11 Harpsden people on the field. Sam Imlay’s knock, Tom Mitchell’s bowling and Andrew Imlay’s captaincy and recruiting skills beating us in the Effigies match. Henley beat us by a whisker as our tail failed to wag to support a storming James Paice, Ben Hancock’s Heartbreakers beat us soundly in one of our fixtures with them whilst, that man again, Sam Imlay, combined with our dreadful catching, resulted in a first victory for the Catchiteers against us in many a year.

So that leaves an incredible 36 victories, for an 82% win ratio. By my calculations we need 3 victories in the last four games to overtake last year’s number of victories, and given the number of overs’ games we play these days, and the size of our fixture list, it must be a real possibility that we might end up winning more games in 2010 than any other season in the club’s 123 year history. I will leave the discussion of whether that is good news for another evening, but for now, let’s enjoy it! What is most amazing about the win ratio for me is that the principal objective of every match Harpsden plays is to ensure that everybody who plays, at least does something (bats, bowls or wicket-keeps) in every single game, with the victories coming despite rather than because of this. I think I am correct in saying that we have achieved that objective in nearly every single one of our 44 games this year, a fact we should be incredibly proud of. The only two games I can remember where that wasn’t the case were against Greys Green and the Butler XI where neither of them could get enough runs! Congratulations to all the skippers who have helped to make this possible.

So what have some of the team highlights of 2010 been for me:

• An incredible 6 wicket victory in the first match of the season against Henley with many of their 3rd team playing who were using the match as their final warm up match before the beginning of their league season.
• Beating traditionally one of our stronger opponents, Holyport, by more than 200 runs as we bowled them out for less than 50 after scoring 258 ourselves.

More on the individual highlights below but firstly we have a special award this year for somebody who many of us feel has been one of the people most responsible for getting Harpsden Cricket Club to where it is today. When Andrew Norton started playing for Harpsden 10 years ago, we didn’t win many matches at all. The ones that we did win were usually the result of Andrew scoring a hundred – as Sunday captain, and then as Club captain, he always embraced the Harpsden spirit of getting everybody involved, whether it meant a defeat, or a victory. But more than that he always gave youth a chance – and I’m sure that is one of the reasons that there are so many youngsters playing for us today. Andrew stood down as Club Captain at the end of last season and hence we haven’t been able to thank him properly. We have here a very small token of our appreciation for somebody who has put Harpsden in as strong a position as it is today. Please put your hands together for Andrew Norton [Book]. What is amazing about this book, Cricket’s Strangest Matches, is that it has a chapter on one of our matches from earlier this year – the setting, Shiplake College, our strapping Aussie, big George Hepburn going into bat. Shiplake College’s Zimbabwean teacher AJ coming in to bowl – she, yes she, comes off a short run and clean bowls George. Actually, I’m kidding, the Harpsden game in the book us the game we played against the Thespian Thunderers where we scored a quite incredible 385 for 6 in 40 overs. Happy reading Andrew.

We now move on to the unenviable task of trying to separate the trophy winners from the others. The number of awesome players we have makes it monstrously difficult but Will, except for where he is conflicted, and Julian, have helped me to come up with some names to go on the trophies. As you will all remember, these trophies are the result of sponsorship from Tabbits, the best and most experienced car repair shop in the whole of England for the repair of cricket ball damaged cars.

The first award tonight is for the young all rounder. Tom Nugent, our winner for the last 2 years has been so busy playing cricket for school, for Oxfordshire U16’s, and the U17’s, and also winning matches for Henley 3rds and despite some really good bowling displays for Harpsden, he has not played enough for us this year to qualify for this award. But what about the others? Tom Mitchell scored an amazing debut 50 for us to help us beat a gobsmacked Henley at the start of the season, and his left arm spin has always been a threat no more so than when he decisively got Horatio out in the Effigies game . James Thomson has batted (and bowled) really well when he has had a chance, including a match winning 47 against Sonning Common Village. Adam Birkett has batted, bowled, fielded and wicket kept well, Johnny Wright economical with the ball and one helluva smasher with the bat. But young all rounder of 2010 comes from very good stock. He scored his maiden 50 for us this year in our first game against the London Erratics, strong knocks against Greys Green when he repelled everything they could throw at him and a courageous knock against Shiplake on a bouncy pitch. His bowling has been devastating with, among others, 3 for 8 against the Butler XI and only going for just more than 3 an over this season. Young all rounder of 2010, Toby Stevens [TROPHY].

The next award we move onto is the senior bowling trophy. We have had an amazing array of devastating bowlers this year. Will Stevens, as economical as anyone, whether it be spin or the just short of a length quick stuff, Tom Nugent who is as fast as anyone and I don’t want him on the other side in a year or two’s time, Ollie Heath who continues to be able to swing it away at pace and frightens many a visiting batsman, Mike Deville always causing problems with his in swingers whilst Alfred Cary’s offies are invariably thought provoking, has taken 10 wickets and he has only gone for just more than 3 runs an over. Gireesh has really come through as the season has gone on and has taken his first Harpsden wicket and his bowling today against a quality batsman well set was quite something and he will have a lot more bowling to do next season. Ben Hancock has had another really good season with the ball although because our opening bowlers have been so good he has not been able to take as many wickets as he would like, only because there haven’t been enough left for him to take. The other really reliable bowler this season has been Tom Ham who has been incredibly economical, in fact our most economical bowler other than Rob Harris, as well as getting 12 wickets at only 10 runs each. But after all that our bowling award came down to three people with very different styles; six foot four of at your body in-swingers from Ed Birkett, nagging accuracy from the go-to bowler, wily Miles Hodgkiss and George Hepburn, the Aussie who moves it both ways with a slingy action vaguely reminiscent of the Australian cultural attaché, Jeff Thomson. Miles has taken alot of wickets, again (!), 31 in our non twenty/twenty games but that doesn’t include an incredible 6 in 3 eight ball overs against the Bradfield staff. George has taken 26 wickets at an average of 15 including a devastating 5 for 14 against Wargrave, whilst Ed has come surging through late season with 5 for 16 against our friends at Greys Green, four for 20 odd against Shinfield following a mid season 3 for 6 against the Old Josephians. Ed’s economy rate of just more than 3 runs an over being indicative of how difficult he is to get away. This was a really close call but the guys who came second equal were the Aussie and the chap who picked up the sixes trophy instead. Due to the number of wickets he has taken, the winner of the bowler of the year in 2010 is Miles Hodgkiss [TROPHY].

No club can flourish without an incredible amount of organisation. The committee do a brilliant job: Mick Greenwood as secretary, David Heath as Treasurer, Will and Andy as Club Captain and Vice Captain respectively, Richard Moyle on anything complicated, Joanna Cary for her sound guidance, Ian Whittaker as chief requisitions officer and Julian Burtt for his incredibly helpful Presidential guidance. Please give a round of applause to all these people for everything they do to make Harpsden cricket club what it is. There are however two people who deserves special thanks – firstly Suzie Bradley whose task of organising 53 fixtures, every single season, with an ever increasing number of teams who know that a fixture against Harpsden is not going to result in a victory. Without Suzie we would be lost and end up having to play by ourselves. A special thank you for everything you do, to Suzie Bradley. [Biscuits].

Now, I am absolutely certain that we are the only cricket club in the country to have a ‘Jane Burtt’. Jane does so much for us, week in, week out. Team organization, commonly known as player juggling, bar lady, and so many other things just too numerous to mention. Harpsden cricket club without Jane would be like a batsman without a bat – please give a big thank you to the one and only, Jane Burtt [Biscuits].

I would now like to hand over to Will who is going to say a little something about our fielding and to present the Catch of the Year trophy. Will.

Every year we have an award for newcomer of the year. This year it goes to youngster who has a natural inclination to help, he’s a great fielder, especially eye-catching has been his awesome catching in the gully, he has picked up a few runs down the order, but more than anything he has been a really impressive strike bowler, particularly in the first half of the season. He took a great 4 wicket haul in the early season demolition of Holyport and one for six in 5 overs against Cranbourne. Next year I’m sure he’s going to take a hatful of wickets, right through the season. Newcomer of 2010 – Ian Brown [Cricket Ball].

The next award is the young bowler trophy. There have been some great performances with the ball by the youngsters in 2010. Tom Nugent as I said has been almost unplayable when he has been available, Johnny Wright has been very economical and next year will take a heap of wickets too, Toby Stevens has had some great performances whilst Adam Birkett has nipped in with some very important wickets at an average of 13 – including a crucial 3 for 30 against Sonning in a hard fought victory and 2 for 2 against Stonor with a 5 man slip cordon! However in second place was our newcomer of the year, Ian Brown, who has struggled of late to find his early season form. But the young bowler of the year, following hard on the heels of last year’s winner, leg-spinner Ben Hancock, is another leggie. He always puts in a good long spell, to his captain’s delight he gets through his overs really quickly which always puts pressure on the batsmen, is economical for a spinner and also takes valuable wickets – he has taken 10 wickets this year at average of just 13. His 4 for 10 against the Deadbats and 3 for 29 against Sonning Common Village are evidence of the importance of having a good spinner or two in the side. Young bowler of 2010 – James Thomson [Trophy].

A few more thank yous before we move on to the next award. We are very lucky to have a number of people who are very happy to take on that thankless task of umpiring. Firstly Neil Craig who turns out for us almost every Sunday and is the fairest man I know, and also David Heath and Tony Wright who are always exceptionally happy to help out. Lucius has mended sightscreen wheels for us and is hopefully going to point us in the right direction for some roller repairs. I would also like to thank all those who helped out at the Sixes, especially Sam Imlay who took on the responsibility organising a really successful event. Other helpers included Adam and Johnny who did much of the scoring, Christian and Ian Brown with their umpiring, Jane, Sue, Fiona, Debbie Thomson et al for their cakes and helping behind the bar, and finally Ian Nugent and especially Ian Whittaker for an amazing amount of work on the BBQ.

We also need to thank all those people who have done so much to make this evening so enjoyable. The chefs, Sally, Fiona, Sarah, Linda, Mandy Stevens, Mandy Imlay, Ben, Roma, Binny…. and Katherine Bryan.

We now move on to the next award, the all rounder of the year. There have been an amazing number of candidates for this with some noteworthy contributions from Ollie Heath with aggressive bowling and he has only been out once for us this season having batted a number of times (despite what the slightly incomplete averages say), Alfred Cary whose scoring rate with the bat has been quite astonishing most notably against his favoured foe, Shiplake, where he scored 58 in 25 balls, and with 10 wickets at just 14 a piece, Christian Whittaker who has scored another great hundred for us this year against Britwell Salome, and if Sam hadn’t given him just two balls to face in the first 5 overs of the game his 106 not out would have been scored in a lot less than the 16 overs it was. His 50 against Woodcote was, I believe, quite something to behold as he went 4, 6, 4 in his first three balls as he needed to hurry of to work, but he has bowled very little for us this year. But the decision came down to a choice between 4. Ben Hancock has had another great season for us, continuing to score a lot of runs at an average of 40 whilst also taking 16 wickets – Ben probably suffers more than most from our strength as he is not often getting the chance to bat and bowl in the same game. His 50 against the London Erratics and his unbeaten 30 in the T20 against Medmenham being particularly notable. James Paice in his second season with us has had a great year and I am very pleased to say that he has accepted our offer of becoming a Club Vice-Captain next season. A well deserved accolade for somebody who commands enormous respect at Harpsden for everything he does. James continues to be a real devil with the ball, nibbling it around and taking important wickets when they are most needed, and taking 18 wickets in total, but it is with the bat where he has been quite outstanding. Fifty and 46 not out against London Erratics, 40 not out against Reading Lawyers, a devastating 60 not out in a valiant losing cause against Henley, and 40 ish against the Bradfield Staff. The final choice came down to people George Hepburn and Will Stevens. Will has again bowled incredibly economically this season going for less than 3 runs an over at an average of just over 10 and always seems to be able to come on to take a wicket when we need him to. His batting though has been quite something and whether or not he wins the Henley Standard ‘Best of the week’ award, he wins our best of the week almost every time he plays. He has scored a quite staggering 1,118 runs for us this season, not incredibly the twenty twenty matches, at the amazing average of 111 and wins matches for us almost single handed. George Hepburn, however, is somewhat different in style to Will – a smidgeon less correct in terms of technique, although he makes up for that by scoring a smidgeon faster than Will. I must admit I enjoyed batting with George against the Old Josephians – we were 51 for 4 when we came together and about 161 for 5 when George departed for 65 – the speed he scores his runs just takes all the pressure off the other batsman. He enjoyed himself with the bat against the Butler XI but more on that later, he got 37 and took 5 for 14 against Wargrave, an unbeaten 30 against Medmenham in no time in the T20 and took 3 wickets against the bemused Whitchurch batsmen. In that game he had the odd experience of being hit back over his head by one of their openers. The batsman didn’t see the next ball as it cannoned into his middle stump at 15 miles an hour faster than George had bowled anything that day. In almost any other year George Hepburn would have won this award hands down. Not in 2010 however. All rounder of 2010 - Will Stevens [Trophy].

No club is ever any more than the sum of its parts and having lots of parts that make a significant contribution to the running of the club is what gives a club its’ spirit. I have mentioned and thanked before all those who don’t play and who do so much for the club but I now want to move on to the highly coveted Club Man award. The previous winners of this shield have been Will, Miles, Ben and last years’ winner Richard Moyle. What characterizes a clubman is somebody who just gets on and does things without being asked, and is also happy to bat, or bowl or field or wicket-keep, just to make life easy on the skipper. There is a lot of work that needs doing on the ground between games and for individual matches, tidying in the pavilion, scoring, writing up scorebooks or reports after the matches, and a million and one other things beside. We are monstrously grateful to Miles for all the work he does rolling before games and clearing up the pavilion afterwards, Sam Imlay who stepped into the sixes breach and has done a lot of match report writing, Horatio and Alfred who have also done a lot of match reports and also double up as a cost effective scorebook storage facility, Johnny Wright who has helped prepare pitches and Tom Mitchell and Toby who have helped to put pitches to bed after use. Ed Birkett has been amazing with everything he has done to help and he is now in charge of looking for grants for any work we may undertake on the ground. But two people have again really stood out. We pay Ben to prepare pitches for us and it is just a delight having somebody who has been as reliable as Ben, never letting us down. He has also watered the square when necessary, opened up the pavilion for our fee paying tenants, written up match reports and just been around and willing to help whenever necessary. Before announcing our Clubman of the year I would be grateful if you would put your hands together for all the others I have mentioned who have done so much to help. Now our Clubman of 2010 is somebody who has spent untold hours on the square over the summer holidays and I’m sure you would all agree that the square is looking as good as any of us can remember at this time of the year. He cuts, he rolls, he puts holes in for seed, he repairs divots, he waters – and partly because of this I think we have had some great cricket wickets this year. He also cleans and tidies and helps to make everything just right before games – our clubman of 2010, and our most grateful thanks goes to - Adam Birkett [Trophy].

The next trophy we move on to is the junior batting award. We have had some tremendous displays with the bat from the youngsters. Maiden Harpsden fifties from Toby Stevens against London Erratics, and an astonishing match winning 55 by Tom Mitchell against Henley, a superb 47 from James Thomson against Sonning Common Village. Adam Birkett who won this award last year has scored two great fifties, 56 against a strong Turville attack and 69 against Catchiteers on a drying pitch after we had lost both openers for ducks, an aggressive 24 which turned the match in a low scoring game against Stonor and a cultured 33 in the T20 against the Heartbreakers to support a marauding Andy Bryan. Tom Nugent will always be in the hunt for this award as was shown by his stellar batting in the sixes but has only batted a couple of times for us this season. But the junior batting award this season goes to someone whose batting has been transformed from last year. He scored a brilliant maiden half-century for Harpsden with a swashbuckling 60 against the Catchiteers, 30 odd in no time against Morgan when some acceleration was needed, he was on target to win the Chairman vs President’s match for the Chairman, even hitting Ollie for a few, until the Chairman ignored his call for a second. He stands tall, very tall, hits straight and big, very big. Young batsman of 2010 – Johnny Wright [Trophy].

The final award of the night is the highly coveted batting trophy which has been won by such luminaries as Andy Bryan (twice), Horatio Cary and Will Stevens, and before we had a trophy by Andrew Norton and Miles Hodgkiss. This was again a monstrously tough call. We have had 11 people this season who are averaging over 50. Top of that list is Christian Whittaker who is averaging 237! Quite scintillating knocks against Woodcote, Britwell Salome, Morgan and against us for the Crossbatters – if he had batted a few more times for us this season, the trophy would have been his. Will, by virtue of picking up the all rounders award can’t win this one but he has scored a quite amazing 11 fifties and one hundred. Adam Hurst will be pleased to hear, or maybe not so pleased given that I think it has cost him money, that Luke Burns is next on the list by average, averaging 84. This is then followed by Horatio who with awesome consecutive hundreds against the Effigies and Turville has averaged over seventy. James Paice, who ran Will so close in the all rounders award has averaged 67, higher than any of his individual scores this season but testimony to his ability to not get out once he’s in. Other averages over 50 include Chris Cracknell, Jack Broome, Andrew Norton who has had a phenomenal return to form this season as he has passed on the pressures of captaincy, or more probably because he got a new bat that hits big sixes. Other superb batting performances have come from Ben Hancock who has averaged over 40 including a hard hitting 50 against the Erratics. Andy Grimmer has averaged 45 and has scored over 400 runs, Sam Imlay who has had some lovely knocks, most particularly for the Effigies against us and Alfred Cary with a couple of great fifties – but a special award this year goes to someone who hits it jolly hard, and jolly far. The Butler XI drove all the way from London to be bowled out for 69 and then George Hepburn and Sam opened the batting for Harpsden. It took them just 3.1 overs for them to score the 70 needed to win, of which George scored 48 in 12 balls. By my calculation the Butler XI spent more on petrol, in pounds, getting here, than the number of balls they bowled – just 19. I know after last year’s dinner there was some discussion in the Cary Kitchen about the very odd awards I seem to come up with – here is an odd one……For taking the second most wickets this season, scoring the sixth most runs and for the pleasure he gives us all every time he walks onto the cricket field, a small award for the remarkable feat of ‘less balls than quids’ – George Hepburn [Cricket Ball].

Back to the batting trophy there are 3 people who are neck-a-neck for the award. Adam Hurst with 567 runs, one hundred and four fifties, averaging 63, Andy Bryan has scored nearly 500 runs with a hundred and two fifties, averaging 54 and Neil Sweet with 2 hundreds and two fifties, has scored nearly 450 runs at at an average of nearly 55. Andy has again batted beautifully this year and his devastation of oppo bowling attacks is a joy to behold and the only reason we have decided not to give it to Andy this year is the fact that he has won it twice before and in a tie-breaker we felt that was just enough to swing it. Adam has been immense and just hardly ever fails when he goes to the wicket whilst Neil has looked majestic, none more so than on a really tricky Greys Green wicket, where he smashed the game away from them with 42 in 35 balls. This year is a first for us in more ways than one – we try to never give awards to people who aren’t at the dinner and we have never had a shared award before. But batsman of the year in 2010 is shared between - Neil Sweet and Adam Hurst [Trophy].

So what does 2011 hold for Harpsden Cricket Club, the year before our 125th anniversary? Julian Burtt is driving a really important project for us which is looking at the possibility of putting a net and some trees by the road to protect the golf club car park but more appropriately the people and cars in it, and also to consider the possibility of moving the square further away from the road and flattening the outfield. If anybody has any bright ideas please don’t hesitate to mention them to a member of the committee but more on that project in due course.

What 2011 also holds is the need for us to continue to try to strengthen the fixture list. We have already weeded out much of our weakest competition replacing them by what were hopefully stronger teams but we have more work to do on that.

Now, you’ll all be pleased to hear that this is last year of this format as we have some ideas to allow other people to do more of the talking than me next year!

I think we should all take a just a moment to appreciate how lucky we all are to be members of Harpsden Cricket Club. We have a great spirit, tremendous facilities, a lot of people helping to make the club what it is and a real desire to involve everybody and to just enjoy our cricket. I would like to propose a toast to Harpsden Cricket Club.